Vista’s mayoral campaign heats up early

6  With 11 months to go until the November election, the race for Vista mayor is shaping up to be one of the most contentious in the city’s recent history.

Councilman Cody Campbell, who was elected to the council last year, is challenging Mayor Judy Ritter, who has been on the council since 1998.

On his campaign website, Campbell has criticized Ritter for supporting a controversial and now defunct plan to build two electronic billboards along state Route 78 and voting against a proposal to ban smoking in outdoor dining areas. He has also accused the mayor of attempting to sideline his proposals.

In return, Ritter has accused Campbell of bad mouthing her and the city.

The tension surfaced during a recent City Council meeting after the mayor denied Campbell any committee or commission appointments.

Ritter said the conflict is likely to continue.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s a sign of what’s to come,” Ritter said last week.

The race could be an uphill battle for Campbell, a registered Democrat in a city where Republicans outnumber Democrats, 14,700 to 11,300, according to the Registrar of Voters.

But Campbell beat those odds before, leading a field of eight other candidates — including then incumbent Councilman Frank Lopez — to win his seat last year.

The jockeying by Campbell and Ritter was on fully display at the Dec. 10 council meeting, where the panel was set to vote on a new deputy mayor and appointments to various local, regional and state panels, such as the San Diego Association of Governments.

Campbell questioned the decision to appoint Councilman John Aguilera as deputy mayor. Since Councilman Dave Cowles holds the post this year and Aguilera held it last year, Campbell said he or Councilwoman Amanda Rigby should have been appointed for next year.

He also criticized the mayor’s decision not to recommend him for any appointments as politically motivated.

“She’s threatened by me running against her,” Campbell told the U-T San Diego in a later interview.

But during the meeting, his words were sharper, questioning the mayor’s leadership skills and adding that she should “take a leadership class.”

Ritter fired back saying Campbell had failed to attend the Vista Village Business Association board meetings, where he was supposed to represent the city this year.

“When I put people on committees, I usually check attendance and out of 11 meetings on the committee you were on, you attended two,” Ritter said.

Campbell said he stopped attending, after notifying the city manager, because the group “has severe issues” and the meetings consisted of “bashing the city of Vista and complaining.”

Cliff Kaiser, who frequently attends council meetings and is considering his own run for mayor, said the campaign is likely to get worse but added that he hopes it stays out of the council chambers in the future.

“I don’t like to see it and I don’t want it to go the way of Oceanside here in Vista,” Kaiser said.

Campbell said that part of the reason he is running for mayor is because he wants a more inclusive city government, one that seeks out dissenting voices instead of avoiding them. But he believes that his efforts have been derailed by council rules, which require that a majority of the council agree to place an item on council’s the agenda.

Earlier this month, Campbell asked that the council consider establishing a “public outreach panel” to “get feedback from the community.” But the majority of the council failed to support the idea saying the public has various ways to communicate with the city.

“I’m going to work to create more transparency, Campbell said.

Ritter said that the reason Campbell’s ideas have not advanced was because he has not learned to work with others to get their support. She said even the mayor had no more power than any other member of the council.